door, his mind on the unpleasant task in front of him. He had to call his mother and ask her if she remembered sleeping with Lamont Kilgore eighteen years ago. She’d slept with so many, would she even remember?
As soon as Savannah walked in the front door of Gibby’s house, she heard the laughter. Her eyes went questioningly to Brody, who was standing guard at the bottom of the stairway.
His face one of amused patience, he shrugged. “Your aunt has an interesting method of recovery. Invite as many visitors as possible and entertain them for as long as she can stay awake.”
Aunt Gibby was known for her socials. Almost being murdered wasn’t going to stop her. She directed her eyes toward the top of the stairs. “Who’s up there?”
Brody pulled a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket. “Hester Shook, Sarah Wills, and Loraine Meadows.”
Gibby’s bridge club members. “Are they playing bridge?”
“They were last time I checked. I walked out as soon as they started in on how wonderful their granddaughters and nieces were and why wasn’t a nice young man like me married.”
Since those were the kinds of questions she would get if she joined them, she said, “Would you tell Aunt Gibby that I came by and I’ll call her later?”
“I doubt they’ll be here that much longer. Sarah said she had to get home to watch General Hospital. It comes on in twenty minutes.”
She did her best not to show her amusement. “You’re a fan of the soaps?”
He gave her a knowing smile. “Don’t laugh till you’ve seen the show. It’s addictive.”
She agreed. She’d watched it when she was a teenager. “Okay, I’ll stay then. Let me check and see if Deputy Odom wants to come in or needs a cold drink.”
As soon as the deputy assured her he was set with a thermos of iced tea, Savannah rushed back inside. Having Brody to herself for a few minutes was the perfect opportunity to find out more about Zach. Who better to ask than a man who’d served with him in the army?
She was happy to see that not only had Brody pulled a chair from the dining room for her to sit on, he had also poured both of them a glass of tea. Gratefully accepting the drink, she settled into her chair and wondered how to approach her questions. She needn’t have worried. Brody was much less taciturn than Zach.
Dropping onto the third step of the stairway, Brody took a long swallow of tea and then said, “Zach’s a fine man.”
“Have you known him a long time?”
“Going on seven years. Logan, Zach, and I served together in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“Funny how you all ended up so close together once you left the service.”
“That’s no coincidence. I’m from northern Indiana. Logan’s from Buffalo, New York. We both hate snow. The way Zach described things in Alabama, from the weather to the beaches to the food …” He shrugged. “Hell, there was no way we weren’t going to check it out. Once we got here, we decided to stay.”
“Do you guys get to see Zach much?”
“Not a lot. An occasional fishing trip. Zach’s busy and we’ve got our hands full with our business.”
“What does your agency do?”
“About anything a client wants: bodyguard services, security consultation, missing persons, assistance in investigation of criminal cases, private investigations. We’ve had to hire two more employees since we got started.”
“I’m surprised you were able to come and help us so quickly.”
“Zach takes precedence over our clients.”
When she had first met Brody, he had said something similar. “Why is that?”
“We owe him our lives. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for him.”
She settled more comfortably in her seat, anxious to hear more about this part of Zach’s past. “Do you mind sharing what happened?”
A cool light entered his eyes. “Why? So you can decide if he’s some kind of hero?”
She didn’t take offense. He was being protective of his friend. “I already know he’s a hero. I just want to know more about him.”
Nodding his approval of her answer, he said, “Our team had raided a compound that’d been an al-Qaeda stronghold. We got almost through the entire place without firing a shot. We opened a door, were in the middle of the room when the bullets started flying. There were four shooters. I took a hit in my leg; Logan took one to his chest and another in his arm. Zach took one in his side.”
Frozen in her chair, Savannah listened as